It was reported yesterday that government had resolved to halt the new O-level curriculum that was being developed by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC).
This communication came from a meeting between President Museveni, education minister Janet Museveni, NCDC officials and vice chancellors of public universities.
President Museveni asked a new team of experts to reduce the current 48 O-level subjects to 14. He argued that the new curriculum should be without duplication, repetition and subject overload.
No reasonable person can argue with the president’s reasoning. Yet the timing of Mr Museveni’s intervention should worry those Ugandans who crave a planned society underpinned by functional institutions.
First, NCDC had spent millions of dollars developing a new hands-on curriculum, divided into eight learning areas, and it was expected to be rolled out next year.
Did the president just learn about this project? One would assume that makers of this curriculum periodically briefed cabinet, which the president heads, about their progress. Did the president have to wait for eight years, during which the curriculum was developed and textbooks were written, to realize that it needed readjustment?
How is the World Bank, funders of this project, supposed to take this decision? Will they be willing to sponsor another project? What about the curriculum experts that have worked tirelessly to develop content for a new curriculum?
President Museveni’s decision is reminiscent of the many outrageous ones that Ugandans experience on a daily basis by people in public offices. It is not unusual to build a very beautiful road and furnish it with flowers only to dig it up after six months to allow a sewage line to pass. Such scenarios reflect a poor planning culture that can only increase the cost of public administration.
Obviously as the head of state, Mr Museveni enjoys a lot of leverage to infuse his wisdom into government policy. But the presidency needs to expend its duties in a way that expedites, rather that slows down, national progress.
As things stand, our O-level learners will continue with more of the same probably for the next six years, further postponing our vision of skilling Uganda.